In Fort Lauderdale, the age of the building usually points to the comb: behind old lap siding by the New River, under barrel tile in the 1920s neighborhoods, or up in a beach tower's machine room. A thermal camera reads the wall or roof first, so we open it in the right place. The bees go home with a beekeeper, every scrap of comb is pulled, the cavity is cleaned and closed, and our own contractors put the stucco, tile or wood back. A Riverland house and a Galt condo fall under one 24-hour response guarantee, and (954) 429-5133 is answered at any time of day or night.
Fort Lauderdale packs several kinds of city inside one boundary. A 1920s house in Victoria Park, a 1960s home in Imperial Point and an oceanfront tower on the Galt each let honey bees in a different way.
What ties the calls together is age and shade: hairline stucco cracks, trim pulled off block, and big old trees whose hollow limbs hold colonies that swarm each spring. For the job itself, read how live removal works or what a full hive removal involves.
Frame houses built before the 1950s have lap siding and open rafter bays, and shrunken wood leaves cracks a honey bee walks right through. Postwar block-and-stucco ranches hide colonies in the soffit, the attic or the hollow cells of the block. Mediterranean Revival roofs add a third option: the space under curved tile caps, where comb grows unseen.
The city's oldest neighborhood and the largest of its three local historic districts, between Broward Boulevard and the New River west of downtown. Most houses are small one-story wood frame or masonry homes with Bungalow, Mission or Mediterranean Revival details, and tired siding around rafter tails leaves gaps.
Oaks still arch over these streets between Broward Boulevard and the New River, with Las Olas running through, in a neighborhood established in 1916. Old limbs hollow out with age, and a swarm leaving one often lands on the next eave over.
East of Federal Highway and north of Broward Boulevard, near Holiday Park, and first built up during the 1920s land boom. Spanish Revival houses in stucco under clay tile now share blocks with newer townhouses. Loose tile and cracked window corners are the usual doorways.
Wrapped by the New River and its South Fork on the north and west, with South Andrews Avenue to the east and Davie Boulevard to the south. The city has surveyed its older houses for historic value; aging soffit vents and window frames are where scouts probe first.
One of the largest land-boom developments of the 1920s, named for G. Frank Croissant, whose 1923 Mission Revival sales headquarters on South Andrews Avenue has a flat roof behind parapets. Wherever that style turns up, the hollow under the parapet cap gets an early look.
The old warehouse district just north of downtown, between Federal Highway and the FEC tracks, now filling with apartment buildings around the FATVillage arts blocks. Older warehouses have parapets and rooftop units full of voids, and the new mid-rises add planters and garage ceilings.
Northeast Fort Lauderdale, west of Federal Highway and north of Sunrise Boulevard, beside Lake Ridge and Middle River Terrace. It began right after World War II as a development called North Ridge. Where a later addition meets an original soffit on those postwar houses, the seam is rarely tight.
Begun in 1960 at the north end of the city, between Federal Highway and NE 18th Avenue below McNab Road. The first homes were sold in an Old Florida style with Colonial and Cape Cod touches, and colonies favor gable vents, decorative shutters and curbside meter boxes.
A narrow ribbon of oceanfront condo towers along Galt Ocean Drive, north of Oakland Park Boulevard, some dating to the late 1960s. Salt air wears out caulk and expansion joints, and scout bees also find rooftop machine rooms and balcony planters.
Southwest Fort Lauderdale, brought into the city by annexation in the early 2000s, with homes mostly from the 1950s under palms and mature shade trees. A shed, a boat on a trailer or storm panels against a fence all shelter new swarms; see shed and outbuilding removals.
A live oak in Colee Hammock or Victoria Park can hold a colony in a hollow limb for years; black olives on the swales and ficus or banyans with fused trunks offer similar pockets. Near the beach, sea grape and cabbage palms mostly catch resting swarms.
The tree and palm removal page explains when a hollow has to be widened. Bees bunched on the outside of a branch, with no comb in sight, are a swarm passing through rather than a colony that has moved in. Africanized colonies live in South Florida as well, so any nest that boils out at you deserves distance.
From a river cottage eave to a tower planter, one photo starts it
Shoot the gap they use from well outside the flight path, send the shot our way at (954) 429-5133, and we reply with a free quote and a price range.
Around Flagler Village, the Riverwalk and Las Olas, colonies move into rooftop cooling equipment, amenity-deck planters, light housings and garage ceilings. On the beach, from Hugh Taylor Birch State Park north along A1A to the Galt, salt-worn caulk joints are the usual way in.
Building managers set the terms: elevator bookings, work windows, our COI on file first. How a tower job is staged is laid out on our condo and high-rise page, while the unit-owner-versus-association question of who pays is sorted out in the condo and HOA rules guide.
Outdoor bars on Las Olas and the Riverwalk can draw foragers to the sugar, and the colony is usually in a sign box, awning frame or planter nearby. Around Executive Airport and Cypress Creek Road, the Uptown business district has flat-roofed offices and warehouses with big mechanical units. Boatyards on the Marina Mile stretch of State Road 84 hold boats and gear that sit untouched for weeks.
Most businesses want the work before opening or after close, a COI naming the landlord and a clean invoice. Our commercial and HOA service is built around that, and a curbside meter or valve box colony can often go on the same trip.
The city goes by the Venice of America, and its canal streets have their own hiding spots: seawall caps, dock boxes, boat lifts, pool cages and balconies over the water. Those neighborhoods are covered on our Fort Lauderdale waterfront homes page.
Bees on the boat itself: boat and marina removal. In the screen enclosure or pump housing: pool cage and equipment removal. Bees lined up at the pool edge: our pool guide.
Swarm calls climb in spring, when strong colonies split and half the workers go looking for a cavity. From May through October, wet-season afternoon downpours push foragers into the nearest shelter, and that is often when someone notices a colony that moved into a wall back in March.
Accordion shutters folded for months, panels stacked in a side yard and shutter boxes above windows all suit a swarm. Read bees and hurricane shutters before a storm, and call the 24-hour emergency line if bees block the shutters.
A swarm you can reach from the lawn, or a colony in the water meter box by the curb, sits at the easy end of the scale, roughly $300 to $400. A colony behind second-floor stucco in Victoria Park, under tile in Croissant Park or in a tower machine room can run into the thousands once access, comb removal and repairs are counted.
Text photos of the spot for a price range, or see how our pricing works.
Our own contractors, roofers and painters texture stucco to blend with the wall, reset and secure tile, and match wood siding and trim to the original profile.
On a Sailboat Bend house, the repair is planned around the city's preservation rules before anything gets cut, and every stage is photographed. For honey soaked into drywall, see honeycomb cleanup and honey leaking through a ceiling.
Downtown towers and the Galt Ocean Mile condos bring steady calls from boards and building managers.
Old frame walls and cracked stucco over block are the most common hiding spots in the in-town neighborhoods.
Spanish and barrel tile on Mediterranean Revival homes gives colonies room to build out of sight.
Live oaks, black olives and ficus in the older neighborhoods develop hollows that bees move into.
Las Olas storefronts, Uptown offices and Marina Mile yards need COIs and off-hours scheduling.
Boats on the New River and the canals pick up colonies in hatches, lockers and canvas.
Yes. Before the visit we ask which loading dock, garage level or service entrance to use and whether the garage clears our truck. On older street-front blocks we work around the curb and tape off the area for pedestrians. Send us the building contact and we coordinate.
Ahead of the meeting, the property manager receives our certificate of insurance, a written scope and photos showing where the bees enter. Exterior walls, the roof and balcony structure are usually common elements, so the association, not the unit owner, normally makes the call. For how that split tends to play out, read who pays when bees get into a condo.
It can. Exterior work in the Sailboat Bend Historic District needs a Certificate of Appropriateness, which city staff can sometimes approve without a Historic Preservation Board hearing. We photograph the opening and match the original siding or stucco. Ask the city's preservation staff before work starts.
Usually, yes. We check in with the dockmaster, send the marina our certificate of insurance and work from the dock or the deck. On boats, bees tend to settle in hatches, lockers, T-top frames and rolled-up canvas. Tell us if the boat sits on a lift.
Not necessarily. Someone picks up around the clock, the 24-hour response guarantee covers the whole city, and anything involving stings jumps the queue. A night or weekend emergency callout does cost more than a booked weekday visit, though, so if the patio can stay roped off and nobody is in danger, a weekday slot saves money. Talk it through at (954) 429-5133.
Less than it looks. Bees hanging out in the open have no comb or brood to guard, so they tend to stay calm while scouts hunt for a home. That home could turn out to be your soffit or a hollow limb, though, so call while the cluster is still outside. Keep kids and dogs away, skip the garden hose and the spray can, and text us a photo so we can judge its size and height.
Las Olas to Imperial Point: comb out, gap closed, bees rehomed
Calls and photo texts from every Fort Lauderdale neighborhood go to (954) 429-5133, and the quote costs nothing.
Phone or text day or night. We price it, move the colony out alive, and close the gap with our own licensed contractors.
